HRV boys soccer continues to battle despite ‘ugly’ play

As of late, the HRV boys soccer team has struggled and at times have played “ugly,” said Head Coach Jaime Rivera, but they currently remain in first place in the 5A OSAA rankings after their 2-1 win over The Dalles on Tuesday, Oct. 10 and their 10-0 home win over Pendleton on Thursday.

A late penalty kick against The Dalles that was drawn by team captain Saul Chavarria would save the day for the Eagles as they were seven minutes away from tying for yet a third time in a row.

“Not taking anything away from The Dalles — they are a good team and they defended well,” said Rivera, “but we did not follow our game plan though.”

“Offensive fundamentals like making the field bigger by players moving into open spaces were missing, and defensively we did not defend well as a team leaving us vulnerable to the counter attack,” said Rivera.

Emy Perez scored the first goal for the Eagles in the first half off a scramble in the front of the goal.

With the win against The Dalles, the Eagles continue to hold first place in the league standings and have yet to lose a game against the other three teams in the CRC this year.

On Thursday, they continued their streak against CRC opponents beating Pendleton at home 10-0.

At 7-2-2 on the season and 3-0-1 in league play, the Eagles remain atop of state and league standings despite recently not performing to their standards, but the 10-0 win on Thursday is reassurance that this team realizes the level of play needs to be picked up with only two games left remining in the regular season before state playoffs.

The Eagles next game is a rematch against the Hermiston Bulldogs. Earlier this month the Bulldogs traveled to Hood River and came out with a 1-1 tie. The Eagles look to finish off the Bulldogs once and for all as the top teams in the league matchup next Tuesday, Oct. 17 in Hermiston.

Last game of the season for the boys is a home match against The Dalles on Oct. 24 at HRVHS.